IIHF Women's World Championship: China win first two games in Division 1 Group B

World
Europe

02:05

China's hockey team are flying high at home after winning their first two games of the Women's World Championship Division 1 Group B. The dominant victory over Asian rivals South Korea show that the changes made to the squad after last year's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics are already paying off. Gary Anglebrandt has more.

Two games in and two convincing wins for China. They started by beating Latvia 3-0 for their first win over the Europeans in four years and followed with a 5-2 pounding of South Korea.

JAKOB KOELLIKER CHINA COACH "It's a really tough game, it's hard, South Korea has good skater, so we have to play our game, that's the key point."

Although South Korea scored the first goal early on, China soon got it back and then took control of the game in the first period.

CHOI JIYEON SOUTH KOREA FORWARD "I played against China a few times in the past and this current team were more organised."

South Korea are ranked 16th in the world - the highest among the Division 1 Group B teams. Most of their players from the team at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics have retired while three dual nationality players also left the team. The current squad is made up of some younger athletes and they have lost two games in a row.

KIM SANG-JUN SOUTH KOREA COACH "Compared to last year's Winter Olympics, we now have a totally different squad with half of them junior players. There are only few who play hockey in South Korea, so it's really difficult to build a team."

China also revamped their team earlier this year. By choosing the best and talented athletes from top clubs, the much-improved team used better tactics against South Korea.

FANG XIN CHINA FORWARD "What we achieved today is the result of our hard training. Also, our coach told us during the meeting before the game that we need to wait for chances, and make the most of them."

After beating Latvia and South Korea, China top the standings with 6 points and eight goals for with just two against. Next up for China is a showdown with the other undefeated team, the Netherlands on Tuesday.